How the Bates Method Can Help You Retrain Your Eyes to See More Clearly Again
Click HERE to watch a full interview with Greg Marsh.
By Dr. Mercola
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to see clearly without glasses
or contacts? According to Greg Marsh, a certified natural vision coach,
clear vision is achievable by virtually everyone, even if you’re already
wearing strong corrective lenses.
He created the CD program Reclaim Your Eyesight Naturally, which teaches you how to retrain your eyes to relax, thereby allowing you to see more clearly.
I first sought Greg out several years ago, at the suggestion of a man
who, in his 70s, had excellent vision. After trying it out, I was
hooked.
Greg got his first pair of glasses in third grade, and at every vision
check, he needed stronger, thicker lenses. His life changed when, in his
late 20s, he came across a book written by a teacher of Dr. Bates'
vision program.
"It just melted my heart, the stories about people improving their eyesight and getting their lives back," he says. "I started trying it on my own near-sightedness. I had some initial success and then kind of hit a plateau.
That's when things got really interesting for me. I eventually did a
formal training as a natural vision teacher. I bought every program I
could find. I also did a lot of cross-training in various ways to use
the mind. I went into martial arts, meditation, and all kinds of things.
For many years, I just kept diving in every which way, and it just became irresistibly simple, interesting, and subtle."
A Technique So Effective, It Was Banned...
The method Greg teaches was initially conceived by Dr. William H.
Bates, over 100 years ago. A board-certified ophthalmologist at the top
of his field, Dr. Bates taught his method to many, and it was so
effective that it ended up being banned in New York after the
optometrists lobbied the local politicians!
In essence, it became a threat to the business model of optometrists.
The prohibition on the Bates Method is still on the books in New York to
this day. Whether or not it's actually prosecuted is another issue.
"In the 1950s and the early 1960s, that's when all the state optometry boards were going after people," Greg says.
"One of the Bates practitioners they went after was Clara Hackett, who
had worked personally with Aldous Huxley, who's one of the more famous
successors.
He wrote the book The Art of Seeing. He was basically told, 'You're blind. Get onboard with Braille.' He got his vision back from working with the Bates Method. Clara Hackett was on trial because she didn't want to fold up and
go home. All these people came in and testified. Aldous Huxley, the
famous author of Brave New World, came in and testified.
He was very popular, so the jury was kind of in awe. Apparently,
during the break of the jury, all the jurors were palming. Then they
knew the outcome was going to be good."
The Bates Method
So how does the Bates Method work? Greg explains:
"Basically, there are six muscles on the outside of your eye, and
they're moving it around... Ideally, these muscles are easily following
visual interests... The problem is – it could be for emotional reasons,
physical stress, or whatever – you start to strain. Once you start to
strain, your vision starts to go."
The action of straining essentially squeezes your eyeballs,
contorting them. This makes your vision blurry, as it alters where the
field of vision "lands" on your retina. Now you have three basic choices
Find out what's stressing you, making you strain. Let it go, relax,
and get your vision back. Dr. Bates developed ingenious tools for doing
just that
Get laser in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK), which permanently alters your focal length
Get corrective lenses. The problem with corrective lenses is that now you're creating permanent strain
The Bates Method isn't really an exercise; it's more of a mental
approach. It's also worth noting that the Bates Method is clearly NOT a
medical approach. You still need to see your regular eye doctor for
checkups. Greg explains the theory upon which his program is based as
follows:
"Dr. Bates' keyword is 'strain.' If you strain your eyes, strain
your thoughts, and strain your vision, these muscles are going to start
getting tight. The strain is the essence of everything.
Imagine you're on a tightrope, you're walking, and you're feeling
your way forward. That's how the eyes want to work. If you get tense on a
tightrope, you're dead, right? Instead of thinking of it as exercises,
you have to go into it in a really subtle way; it's more like a
meditation."
Basically, your vision is not compromised because of weak eye
muscles. They’re strong enough. They’re just too tensed to work
properly, so you have to relax them. When people have a hard time seeing they typically will squint, which
actually makes your vision worse. Squinting is one of the worst things
you can do for your vision as it stresses your muscles. I find myself
all day long paying attention to this as typical response is to contract
your eye muscles and squint.
Another part of the process is "faith"—faith that your eyes "know what
they're doing" and can see well. The problem is that once you start
wearing corrective lenses, you're actually worsening your vision. This
progressive worsening of your vision can lead to a defeatist mentality
if you don't realize that what you're doing is creating the problem.
Be certain that you do the little experiment Greg discusses in the
video by creating a pinhole with your hand and surprising yourself how
clear your vision becomes without any corrective lenses. Just bend your
finger to create a small pinhole between the skin folds. Now hold the
pinhole in front of your eye, and notice how much more in focus
everything is that you're looking at. As they say, seeing is believing
and this will go a long way to convince you that you can actually see
well without corrective lenses.
By wearing glasses, you're essentially retraining your eyes to strain
in order to see all day long. Ideally, you'll want to remove your
glasses whenever you can safely do so. Also make sure you have appropriate lighting, especially when reading. "The amount of light is huge," Greg notes.
"While somebody is making the transition from needing glasses to not
needing glasses, things like using more light really help, like if
you're reading a book."
Common Vision Problems Caused by Excessive Eye Strain
The two most common eyesight conditions requiring glasses are: (1)
myopia (near-sightedness, which usually appears in childhood or during
teenage years) and (2) presbyopia (a type of farsightedness which leads
to reading glasses at middle age). They both are very responsive to the
Bates Method, and in fact the approach is nearly identical. If you have a
mild prescription, you can simply go more and more frequently without
glasses as you improve your eyesight. Of course, you should always wear
glasses if they are required for driving, until you pass your vision
test without them.
Especially with nearsightedness, stronger prescriptions tend to require
more creativity and persistence, since the habits of staring and
straining are more established. Also with high nearsightedness, you may
need to progressively work your way down, which can be an expense for
more pairs of glasses. But the visual clarity and relaxation you will
feel all through your body and mind makes it deeply rewarding! The need
for reading glasses is a common age-related problem, but according to
Dr. Bates, loss of vision is not a “fact of life” at all. Even this he
relates to eye strain.
“Most optometrists or ophthalmologists would say that the ciliary
muscle around the lens is the cause—that it gets frozen. They’ll say,
'Well, gee, your lens has become impossibly hard and now it doesn’t move
anymore,' Greg says.
The lens of your eye, which is behind your cornea, right behind the
iris, thickens and thins continuously all day long as you focus on
various things. It also grows as you age. Eye doctors will say that your
lens has become too large and rigid, and can’t flex anymore. But
according to Greg, the problem with that model is that most people who
sincerely apply the Bates Method do reduce or eliminate their need for
reading glasses. Once again Dr. Bates’ solution is to relax the eyes so
the muscles can function naturally.
The Power of Your Mind
Astigmatism, cross-eye, glaucoma, cataracts, and other vision
conditions can also benefit from the Bates Method. With regards to
cross-eye, Greg notes that this problem is not really caused by
too-short a muscle pulling the eye. Rather it’s that the muscle is
chronically too tight, and if you relax it, your eye will typically go
back to its normal position.
"I love working with people who have been diagnosed with glaucoma or cataract and who are open to natural approaches," he says.
"One lady I worked with was about to get surgery for glaucoma. Her
doctor told her she'd already lost 60 percent of her vision just in one
eye. I had an amazing EFT session with her. I told her to palm 10
minutes at a time at least six times a day. Three or four days later,
she let me know that her score dropped from 28 down to 12 on glaucoma in
that eye. Her doctor said, 'Oh, wow. The medicine finally started to
work.'"
Dr. Bates used to experiment with visualizations for patients with
cataracts—a condition where the lens of your eye gets cloudy. One of Dr.
Bates' patients who had cataracts was able to make her cataracts
disappear through guided visualization alone. When she got stressed out
again, the cataracts reappeared.
"I don't want to put anybody in a box and say, 'Oh, your thoughts
are negative.' But if you're having negative thoughts, imagine you can
feel how that manifests as, say, a cataract.Louise Hay, the
guru of emotional reasons for disease, she would say the reason for
cataract is the future looks dark. I can't tell you how many people have
resonated with that. They've had a family member who died, a big
business bust, or they just realized, 'Wow, I'm getting old. I haven't
done everything I wanted.' That metaphor of 'the future looks dark.'
Now just imagine the crystalline structure of the eyes and how ever
that magically transmutes into the cataract and the opacity. Now
imagine changing that vibration and then just asking: 'How fast can I
imagine and how fast can I allow for this change to take place?'"
Remember that the Bates Method is not a medical approach, and you
must seek a licensed practitioner for any diagnosis, prescription, or
treatment. The Bates Method is more like meditation or yoga. It can help
you engage your mind and imagination, to relax your eyes, and bring
about as much natural healing as possible.
Sample Bates Method Techniques
One of the most famous Bates Method techniques is palming. Look
around and notice the level of clarity of your vision at present. Then,
simply place the center of your palms over your eyes. Relax your
shoulders. You may want to lean forward onto a table or a stack of
pillows, to facilitate relaxation. Relax like this for at least two
minutes. Then remove your hands, open your eyes, and notice whether
anything looks clearer. Usually, it will.
"What you're doing is you're letting your hands and your fingers
sort of melt into your face. You feel how that affects your whole being
as you let that happen. It's almost like your whole stress system is
starting to melt away," Greg explains. "Send love and relaxation into your eyes through your palms, which,
by the way, are minor chakras, or energy centers. You're sending all
this relaxation into your eyes, and your eyes are relaxing. Imagination
becomes very important here, too. You can imagine, pretend, and feel
that your eyes are going back toward their natural round shape. Just
stay with that as long as you want. And then when you do uncover your
eyes, you're going to see that things are more clear, at least for a
moment.
See, this is a setting, a thermostat setting that your body-mind
just had for a long time. It may take some practice, some awareness, and
gradually learning to sustain this [relaxed state]. It's kind of a zen
thing. You can't crave it too much because the more you crave it, now
you're trying to force it and now you're straining again."
Another technique is called the Bates Long Swing. Begin by simply
swaying your body back and forth. The simple act of languidly moving
your body, even just a little bit, has a very soothing effect on your
brain and thought patterns, and that alone can sometimes help you feel
more relaxed during stressful situations. Your eyes also respond.
Instead of being locked in a stare, like a deer in headlights, they can
begin to relax and move naturally again.
More Information
You can find a lot of information about the Bates Method on the web.
The thing to be careful about is that you don’t get drawn into an “eye
exercise” approach where you end up straining to get rid of the strain. I
think this is the key reason people fail to get results with the Bates
Method. Greg’s approach is fantastic for always bringing you back to a
relaxed state of mind and body, and helping your eyes feel ready to see
clearly again.
You can purchase Greg’s program, Reclaim Your Eyesight Naturally, which consists of six CDs and a 62-page guidebook that helps tie everything together.
Just keep in mind that if you are looking for a quick fix, Dr. Bates'
approach is probably not for you. The time required to effect a
permanent improvement can vary greatly. In rare cases just a few minutes
is sufficient. However, it is often necessary to continue the program
for weeks or months, or longer for extreme conditions. Greg also teaches
workshops and vision coach trainings, and works with people one-on-one
via phone or Skype.
"I've heard from hundreds of people that have done my program," he says.
"A lot of people have had stunning success with just the CD program. A
lot of others need maybe one session just to get the light bulb to come
on. Other people, especially if they're backed up into a really big
prescription, they may need some help unlocking the doors of: why,
emotionally, am I stuck here? But it's amazing what a little EFT, guided visualization, and awareness of tight muscles can do."
Again, when you have tightness in your eyes, you’re more likely to get eye diseases, and stress is the leading contributor to not achieving
full vision recovery. Doing the palming technique is a good
foundational step to help release some of that stress and tension held
in your eyes. Meditation can also be a helpful strategy, overall.
The Bates Method is really quite simple, yet it requires patience, and
some finesse. Remember, the goal is not to “train” or exercise your eyes
to make them stronger. The goal is to relax them. Greg’s program
provides thorough instructions that can help you get there. Also
remember that your mindset is important. With faith in yourself and your
body’s self-regenerative ability, the toughest hurdle is learning to relax, so your eyes can function in accord with their natural design.
